“Labour is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labour, and could never have existed if labour had not first existed. Labour is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

The Daily Show did a great show with Fox Judge Andrew Napolitano this week, on the subject of Lincoln. They had a game show segment called “Weakest Linc-oln”. The judge gets shown to be an ass quite badly, and so authoritatively. Yet I doubt many of his fan bois among Fox viewers will see or understand how seriously he fails as a historian.

I would also note that Lincoln was severely castigated for telling jokes when the nation was bleeding. He was dismissed as a clown, a circus freak and famously by George McClelland anticipating Ted Nugent as “the original gorilla”.

There have always been imbeciles who think you cannot be a serious person if you make people laugh. These are usually people who think they, themselves are very serious men–probably because the laughter they engender usually occurs behind their backs.

Ooh, are we making up things Abe Lincoln wouldn’t do? Here’s some more:

Abraham Lincoln would never have worn a lampshade as a hat whilst singing Schubert lieder.
Abraham Lincoln would never have stood on one leg in the White House bathroom.
Abraham Lincoln would never have danced with the devil in the pale moonlight.
Abraham Lincoln would never have watched American Idol.

It clearly depends on the type of comedy. If it is a skit, then that is objectively wrong, but if it is stand up comedy like the White House Press Correspondents Dinner or the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner then that is objectively right. It seriously couldn’t be more obvious…

“Labour is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labour, and could never have existed if labour had not first existed. Labour is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

I don’t see how that’s a joke. Am I missing something?

From what I understand, the joke is more of a sarcastic quip in favor of labour unions. Imagine someone railing against unions, claiming they hurt capitalism; with a wry smile, throw that phrase at them.

Exactly so. Lincoln was elected under the mantle of “Republican”, but his politics were much more of a modern Democratic platform:

Lincoln was speaking now of a broader concern: his fear that the few who were possessed of capital might, in a time of turbulence, seek to bend the rule of law—diminishing the historic respect for the rights of man outlined by Lincoln’s hero Tom Paine in order to favor their interests above those of the great many Americans who toiled for wages, or the fees paid farmers. “No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned,” the president warned. “Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost.”

I wouldn’t trust Bill O’Reilly to know or tell me what Abe Lincoln actually did, let alone what Lincoln would do today. Lincoln had a sense of humor. That can be seen in his poetry. The “Bear Hunt” seems appropriate here: “Who draws first blood, each hunter knows this prize always wins. But who did this, and how to trace what’s true from what’s a lie…Aforesaid fice of blustering mood…just now emerging…swears as plain as dog can swear that he has won the skin. Conceited whelp! we laugh at thee, nor mind that not a few of pompous, two-legged dogs there be, conceited quite as you.”

cswella @#26 — I don’t get the Lincoln quote as joke either, maybe you had to be there, though I would guess that he was poking fun at the capitalists of his day, who much like now devalue “labor” meaning work. However, I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln was speaking of “labor unions.” Labor unions didn’t exist in the US until after the mid-19th century.

Bill O’Reilly — America’s answer to the ludicrous shortage. Thanks to his efforts and those of his fellow and former Fox Nuts, America has achieved ludicrous independence so that we are no longer dependent on importing foreign ludicrousness.

Pure brilliance on Obama’s part. An appearance that was “beneath his station,” that he knew would spread a message he believes in (¡in modern day America!), managed with precisely the kind of in-your-face toughness (for these purposes and it this context it doesn’t matter if it was staged) that the same people who are freaking out because he did something “beneath his station” say he doesn’t have. And still, by going through the back door like this (knowing that the fact that people actually watch it makes it a front door in reality) he manages to make the point that he means what he says… while just plain getting the message out.
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The level of humor combined with purpose here is almost transcendent. For that, it may be worthy of real history.